A conveying arrangement of the above type is described in detail in the following:
DE 36 06 129 A1EP 1 187 781 B1DE 36 12 765 A1U.S. Pat. No. 6,831,566U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,261U.S. Pat. No. 7,259,854EP 0 336 385 B1WO 2008/034483 A1U.S. Pat. No. 6,291,991U.S. Pat. No. 7,178,663 B2
The carrying-side and running-side cover plates of a conveyor belt as a main component of a conveying arrangement usually include a rubber mixture, containing a rubber component or a rubber component blend, a crosslinking agent or a crosslinking system, comprising a crosslinking agent and an accelerator, and usually further mixing ingredients, in particular a filler and/or a processing aid and/or an antioxidant and/or a plasticizer and/or other additives (for example fibers, color pigments).
The relevant basis for the rubber is in particular:
natural rubber (NR)
butadiene rubber (BR)
chloroprene rubber (CR)
styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR)
nitrile rubber (NBR)
butyl rubber (IIR)
ethylene-propylene rubber (EPM)
ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM)
SBR/NR blend
SBR/BR blend
NR/BR blend
Particularly important so far has been CR, which is distinguished by a high flame, weathering and aging resistance, in particular for conveyor belts that are used in underground mining. In surface mining, NR and the aforementioned blends (DE 10 2009 043 904 A1) have also gained greater importance.
The required elastic properties are imparted to the conveyor belt as a result of the vulcanization of a rubber mixture of the aforementioned type.
The conveyor belt is usually also provided with an embedded reinforcement. Cables of steel or aramid running parallel in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor belt are used as reinforcement, cables of steel being of particular importance. The reinforcement may, however, also be a single- or multi-ply textile formation, in particular in the form of a woven fabric. Of particular importance here is a polyamide-polyester fabric. In particular in connection with steel cable conveyor belts, a transverse reinforcement of synthetic cords, for example of polyamide, that are embedded in the carrying-side and/or running-side cover plate is additionally used for the purpose of preventing splitting (WO 2008/034483 A1).
The following components may also be embedded in the carrying-side and/or running-side cover plate: conductor loops, transponders, barcodes, a polymer matrix with mixed-in detectable particles or other detectable elements. In this respect, reference is made to the following patent literature in particular:
DE 44 44 264 C1DE 197 15 703 A1U.S. Pat. No. 7,954,632U.S. Pat. No. 6,781,515
The conveyor belt may also be provided with a built-on part, for example with a driver part, guiding part and with edge and side-wall profiles. Such built-on parts consist of a polymeric material (elastomer, thermoplastic elastomer, thermoplastic) and are adhesively bonded at the foot to the carrying-side surface of the elastic conveyor belt. Such built-on parts are described in particular in the following patent literature:
DE 32 19 170 A1DE 34 14 285 A1DE 10 2009 025 906 A1DE 10 2009 025 911 A1
Further components of a conveying arrangement may be: deflection rollers or deflection drums; hold-down rollers in the case of pipe conveyor belt installations; correction rollers, in particular in the case of pipe conveyor belt installations; chutes at the charging location for the conveyed material; and, monitoring devices.
With respect to the monitoring devices, the following possibilities with extensive development activities may be mentioned in particular:
Optoelectronic systems, in particular in the form of a line scan camera or an area scan camera, are used for monitoring damage to the carrying-side and/or running-side cover plate, reference being made in this respect to the following patent literature in particular:
DE 24 13 543 A1DE 101 29 091 A1DE 42 40 094 A1DE 101 40 920 A1U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,103EP 1 187 781 B1U.S. Pat. No. 6,831,566U.S. Pat. No. 7,259,854US 2003/0000808WO 2008/031648 A1
Of increasing importance is the inspection of a conveyor belt by means of high-energy beams, in particular x-ray beams. Such a device is described in particular in the following patent literature:
DE 35 17 314 A1U.S. Pat. No. 8,149,989JP 04158208 A (Patent Abstracts of Japan)JP 2000292371 A (Patent Abstracts of Japan)
In spite of extensive development work in the area of conveying arrangements, there has so far been an as yet unresolved problem, which is described more specifically below.
When conveying material by conveyor belts, the conveyed material, for example coal, ores or minerals, is charged onto the running conveyor belt at a charging location of the conveying arrangement. In an extreme case, this comprises 40000 tonnes per hour, and with a drop height of up to 18 meters. To minimize the high degree of loading to which the conveyor belt is subjected by the impact of the conveyed material, the running-side cover plate of the conveyor belt is supported by an impact device, which for example includes the supporting rollers. This impact device partially absorbs the kinetic energy.